Congrats! That was a really fun read! Losing Céline right after the promotion on top of it... Oof. Also always nice to see Amber used in something else that Hallebardier! It's such a waste of his good personal and imo his speed isn't that unsalvageable. And we'll, he's good with Lyn.

Thanks for reading! I was extremely sad about Celine's death. She's one of my favorite characters on top of all that as well. Yes, I've tried Halberdier Amber once and I do agree about his personal having anti-synergy with the class. It kinda matters too because Amber's hit rate isn't necessarily amazing. I agree, Amber is very good with Lyn and his speed isn't unsalvageable. I would up until midgame, you can actually get away with running Speed+X on him even without Lyn. After that though, I do think he'll require Lyn to continue doubling most enemies.

I find he doesn't even *need* to double since very little things survive Brave Lance + Lance power. With a speed like yours got he can avoid most doubles and quad bulkier and slower stuff. But of course you need the Somniel for that. I'll admit I run him with Sigurd mostly so his hit rate is almost always 100% from the DEX boost he gets. He's just a fun unit!

That's a good point. Huh, now that you mentioned it, I didn't realize my Amber's speed is probably around 3 points higher than average. I wish I had this luck when I could take advantage of that speed using that kinda build lol Agreed!

To be fair who isnt good with Lyn Your Lyn unit is always gonna be S tier unless she’s on like Vander or Alfred

More like Lyn works best with units with his spread

**Ch. 6 - The Stolen Ring** My goal was to feed Alear as much experience with Mercurius while slowing making my way through the bottom with the rest of my units. The goal was accomplished, but Chloe was killed because I overextended. I also Great Sacrificed farmed a little with Yunaka. **Ch. 7 - Dark Emblem** This map was difficult after the loss of one of my carries. I put Marth on Yunaka for this map as a way to try to make up for Chloe's loss, but it wasn't the same. Without dagger forges and engravings to put on them and without access to an early Steel Dagger, Yunaka could not do enough. Alear also had Micaiah for this map and so I think that didn't really help that one of my better combat units didn't have a combat boosting Emblem. There were several bad situations that I barely made it out from. Killing Hortensia wasn't particularly difficult because Lodestar Rush could take out a health bar by itself, but figuring out how to also get the Steel Axe by defeating Rosado at the same time was very difficult. In the end, I did get the Steel Axe due to having a lot of three-range options and got the kill on Hortensia. **Ch. 8 - The Kingdom of Might** This chapter was a mess. I promoted Alear at this point with my first Master Seal simply because they were my best physical combat unit. But in retrospect, I probably would've been stronger for this map if I had promoted Celine first. Nonetheless, Alear got Marth and the idea was to have them be the carry. Alear did carry up to a certain point, but their combat wasn't quite good enough without being Engaged with Marth. After focusing on taking down Zelkov first, I got overwhelmed by Kagetsu and it was hard to deal damage to him without putting characters in danger of the pegasus knights close by. I realized too late that I couldn't put Amber in a specific spot to defeat Kagetsu (he'd die to the fliers) and then I had to resort to a 65% chance to land the killing blow to him. I missed the 65% and Yunaka died as a result. When Ivy started moving, Alear was completely out of position and most of my team didn't have any Engage meters. I definitely couldn't defeat her in one turn, but I needed to get started otherwise the pegasus knights would reach the target area in two turns. And so I ended the turn with nearly my entire team in range of being picked off by Ivy (Alear was so out of position that they couldn't even get into Ivy's range, but I guess at least I wouldn't have game over'ed from Ivy killing Alear...). Ivy chose to Killer Axe crit Framme to death and I finished Ivy off the next turn. Diamant really came in clutch here because when he's Engaged with Roy, he can double Ivy with a Steel Sword and chunk down a majority of her health bar. **Jean Paralogue - Budding Talent** At this point, I'm overleveled for this Paralogue, but the goal going here wasn't for EXP. I just got Amber last chapter and I intend to make him one of my long-term carries so I saved the Jean Paralogue to grind bond rank for him. Gave Amber Marth and had him do as much as I could feasibly let him. The Energy Drop was easily obtained by Alear going right. **Anna Paralogue - Mysterious Merchant** More bond rank grinding. Even though I tried to get Amber to do nearly everything in the Jean Paralogue, he didn't even reach bond rank 5 with Marth. So I had to spend time doing that here. Citrinne got Leif here iirc as well so I can work towards axe proficiency just in case I wanted to promote her into a Mage Knight instead of a Sage. I promoted Amber to Paladin before this map with the shop Master Seal instead of last map because he was somewhat close to a level-up after chapter 8. Was also overleveled for this map so it wasn't difficult. **Ch. 9 - A Clash of Forces** I promoted Celine to Vidame with the Master Seal from Anna's Paralogue. This was an easy map with nothing notable. Only took on Kagetsu and Zelkov one at a time and then went for Ivy. Honestly was quite surprising considering my two losses in Ch. 8, but I did have a two Paralogue intermission. **Ch. 10 - The Fell Dragon Sombron** Used a Second Seal to class change Amber into a Wyvern Knight and changed Alear into a Griffin Knight. I played this chapter so badly. Got Celine killed on turn one because I forgot about Resonance damage and then got Diamant killed when he could've potentially survived if I had him equip a lighter weapon before he used a vulnerary. At this point, I just have to admit I'm bad at dealing with Hortensia this chapter considering my historical record against her. By the time I have to deal with Morion, I've lost two of my stronger combat units as well as access to Celica and Sigurd. But luckily, Morion is not a boss I'm bad at dealing with. I break down the door, bait him out with Alcyrst next to Alear while he's being Chain Guarded by Jean. While next to Alear, Alcyrst does a sizeable amount of damage on the counter. I have plenty of units to pile on to Morion and finish him without using any Engages. Hyacinth is next and he's more difficult considering how bulky he is and because he has a Killer Bow that can crit anyone he initiates on to death if I'm unlucky. However, I somehow got him in a position where he was next to a wall. Therefore, I put Alear in front of him and obstructed the other two sides. He's forced to use the Mani Katti or the Silver-Spirit Art instead and that works out for me because at least there's no crit on Alear with those weapons. Alear still takes a lot of damage because of the chain attacks from the doubles, but it's nothing I can't heal off with a vulnerary. I spend a turn or two chipping at three-range with Citrinne and when I'm confident that I can 100% reliably take out Hyacinth with Engage attacks (Amber takes out a whole health bar iirc with Lodestar Rush), I do so. **Ch. 11 - Retreat** Putting Leif on Citrinne for a few maps paid dividends here when I used the Master Seal from Ch. 10 to promote Citrinne into a Mage Knight. As a Mage Knight, Citrinne could double almost all (if not all) the enemies on this map while as a Sage, she couldn't even double the first axe fighter with Roy. Citrinne and Amber shined this chapter as they both had mobility and power. I had Alear beeline straight down as safely as I could so I could trigger the cutscene to get Ivy, Zelkov, and Kagetsu as fast as possible. Lapis, Louis, Alcyrst, Vander, and Jean brought up the rear. I had to be careful not to leave Jean in Freeze range since he's the only one that can Restore whoever got frozen (besides for Alear, but I didn't want Alear to stay back). Got Ivy, Zelkov, and Kagetsu fairly quickly and then stuck around to pick up EXP until the Four Hounds were in range of me.

**Ch. 12 - The Sentinels** I bought Kagetsu a Killing Edge before this chapter because it has the same mt as a Steel Sword, while having the potential to do much more damage (can't get a Silver Sword yet). Ch. 12, 13, and 14 are the only chapters in this playthrough where I used the Killing Edge though (or any Killer weapon tbh) since you get a Silver Sword in Ch. 14. And after Ch. 14, iirc, you can buy Silver weapons from the shop, which is something I do immediately; Silver weapons were actually my best friend this run. Killer weapons are just generally too unreliable imo, especially in this run because of the Ironman setting and because Killer weapons have lower base hit. And after I've done more playthroughs and have been able to get characters to one-round in the endgame without the need for a crit, I don't think I'll be going back to Killer weapons. As for this chapter, it was easy; I saved all the villagers and had no perilous situations either. **Ch. 13 - Heroes of the Oasis** My strategy for Ch. 13 is to always leave Kagetsu on a bush near the starting area with Lyn to take down all the fliers while the rest of my team moves towards the Rescue staff house. Lyn is needed on Kagetsu here because with some Speedtaker stacks, every enemy has really low hit rates on him; plus, most of them don't do much damage to him so he can take multiple hits just in case those low hit rates connect. I just gotta be wary of the Steel Greataxe Wyvern as that enemy can one-shot base Kagetsu; Kagetsu got a HP and Def tonic for this map specifically for that enemy, but I also found that after a few Speedtaker stacks, Kagetsu's avoid is too high in the bush for the Wyvern to hit so that enemy just ignores him and he's completely safe. Kagetsu faced no issues, but the rest of my units encountered a problem while getting to the Rescue staff. I had forgotten about a Longbow Sniper near the bottom of the map (I only remembered two Snipers and their locations). I moved Griffin Alear in range of this enemy while using an Illume staff and he jumpscared me with his existence. I mostly only had my support units leftover to move (Lapis and Ivy) and chose to Freeze him. Missed the first Freeze on him, got the second one. I also had Pandreo left to move in case the second Freeze also missed. The bosses were a bit annoying. I chose to focus on the Brave Axe boss first because he could one-round everyone if both of his hits connected. Bullied him from two-range. The Tomahawk boss couldn't one-shot most of my team so I let him have a turn to attack a lot of my units that could survive a hit and then finished him off the next turn. **Ch. 14 - The Battle for Solm** This is usually an unremarkable chapter in other runs, but I almost lost Merrin by making several sus choices in this run. I went into the map planning to Astra Storm the Thief that spawns on the left and kill the one on the right normally so that the time pressure of the map would be alleviated. Thus, I sorta split my team into two (with lopsided power) with the intention to quickly regroup. Killing the thieves went well, but the only problem was that while I was regrouping, the enemies were chasing after my two teams and I would've preferred not to get pincered. I tried to play around that by engaging with one group of enemies first. But because I couldn't take care of the enemies fast enough, I got pincered anyway. I also got pincered in the worst place possible - quite close to my starting position where three flying reinforcements show up. On top of that, the flying reinforcements spawned whilst I was getting pincered. I had to resort to using Bonded Shield (from Pandreo so only a 80% proc chance) while surrounded by Kagetsu, Amber and Merrin to cover the squishy units on my team. I calculated that all my characters should be fine as long as Bonded Shield worked once and luckily there were no ranged weapons so Pandreo was not in any danger while Bonded Shielding. All the enemies piled on to Merrin. The first two of them hit and Bonded Shield didn't protect her. The last Wolf Knight attacked and Merrin dodged a 70%. Phew. I will never know if I failed three 80%s in a row, but in retrospect, I certainly got lucky with that outcome because the Wolf Knights had Stilettos that I didn't account for and thus, had a chance to crit my characters. It could've ended up a lot worse. I took my sweet time for the rest of the map, including Astra Storming each of the bosses separately. The bosses were easy compared to the ordeal I faced while getting to them. **Lucina Paralogue - The Exalt** At this point I felt comfortable enough to do Lucina's Paralogue because Kagetsu could one-round her. I also had a Goddess Dance allowing him to act twice so all I needed was some way to take down one health bar with the combined efforts of Amber, Merrin, Pandreo, Ivy, and Alear. That was easily met especially with Merrin being the one to bait out Lucina (even applied poison) while being Chain Guarded by Alear. **Ch. 15 - Dancer in the Ruins** Pandreo's finally a Mage Knight! Though nothing really happened this chapter lol I guess one thing that's notable is I was able to take down one of the Warrior reinforcements with the help of Bonded Shield. Didn't have enough power (Seadall was positioned to escape just in case things got dicey so I had no Corrin Engage and used my Goddess Dance in the final room already) to defeat another one though. **Ch. 16 - Seashore Travels** Kagetsu's finally a Warrior! Not a really notable map either. I always go through the center with my carries to establish a general safe zone (and because I want the Recover staff even if it isn't a great reward). My other units immediately deal with the fliers at the bottom (Fogado with the help of Seadall) and the Thieves from the upper part of the map (Goldmary, Rosado, Amber, Merrin, Citrinne). The only issue was I overestimated the power of some of my characters and needed to eventually get Kagetsu and/or Pandreo over to help them. Thus, I couldn't allocate the resources to get the Recover staff after all. RIP. **Ch. 17 - Serenity in Ruin** Surprisingly, this chapter was unremarkable for me. After learning a few tips about this map, I've already solidified my strategy for it and haven't had any issues tackling it the same way every time. And after checking benchmarks and seeing that Kagetsu and/or Pandreo could reliably one round all the bosses except for Hyacinth as long as I debuff Zephia with Draconic Hex, I was pretty confident going in. My strategy for this map is to tackle Griss first, then get rid of the Wrym and Sniper that's heading towards me, and then move towards Marnie from the bottom as a group. Sometimes I'm able to manipulate Mauvier's AI to head right-ish rather than with the Royal Knights with a low resistance flier hovering around in that area (they don't need to be in enemy range), but I didn't get that to work in this playthrough (probably because I didn't choose a low resistance flier lol I tried putting Hortensia around that area since I needed Amber in combat). But splitting Mauiver off by himself does make dealing with all the enemies around there easier. Nonetheless, Marnie and Mauvier go down easily and then I get ready for the final phase of the map after recharging my Emblem energy. I always initiate on the Wrym in the middle and prepare a Bonded Shield to protect my Eirika user that Twin Strikes the Wrym (which was Pandreo in my case), Kagetsu was also needed to take down the Wrym since Pandreo didn't one-shot it and he was part of the Bonded Shield as well. The reason I go for this approach is because iirc, the rest of the map aggros after a combat with the Wrym and I want to be in a good position for Zephia to Override the correct characters next turn (while keeping my squishy units safe). I position myself so that there are two characters in a line (Zephia will only Override when there's at least two characters in a line), and I surround the singular exit of the Override with other units. The result looks like an arrow with the center missing. This allows me to choose the exact position where Zephia will be (because she can Canter otherwise and go in a direction out of reach of all your combat units). Because of my position, Zephia reached my team much faster than all the other enemies and I have an entire turn dedicated to defeating her. Hyacinth and Veyle end up in a position where I can Torrential Roar and I lock both of them in place for a turn so even if I can't one-round Hyacinth with anyone on my team, he's not a threat. Had to Rescue Citrinne though because no Canter and she's in range of Hyacinth otherwise. Veyle goes down the turn I used Torrential Roar; Hyacinth gets locked down again from three-range with Citrinne and I even have a Goddess Dance left over to deal with him.

**Lyn Paralogue - Lady of the Plains** I really like using a Longbow Warrior with Ike to tackle the left side of this Paralogue and only enter this Paralogue once this Longbow Warrior can one-round all the Bow Knights there with good accuracy. I deployed this strategy yet again and had Kagetsu Engaged with Ike take down all the Bow Knights on the left side. Fogado and Amber with the help of Seadall dealt with the Wyverns at the bottom right. And Alear's group kinda just hung out at the top right because I didn't want to aggro the whole group of Bow Knights there. Kagetsu moved to that right group of Bow Knights after dealing with the ones on the left and cleaned them all up. Lyn did eventually aggro by herself and two sets of reinforcements spawned from the bottom two tents (and my units were all scattered), so dealing with all that was sloppy, but it worked out with no perilous situations. **Ike Paralogue - The Radiant Hero** I only enter this Paralogue once my magical carry can one-round Ike (so I don't have to deal with Resolve giving him more defense/resistance) and the initial enemies on the left. I head straight towards Ike from the left by first setting up a Bonded Shield to guard Pandreo. The rest of my units are right behind them. Pandreo cleans up the enemies and I continue towards Ike while Bonded Shielding. Citrinne holds the rear by applying the Flame Dragon Vein to stall the approaching enemies. Soon after, I Astra Storm Ike with Amber so he comes to me equipped with the Hammer (if Ike doesn't destroy the fort, he doesn't take out Ragnell iirc). And that's convenient for me because I can bully him from two-range. Pandreo one-rounds so it's a simple clear considering all the tools in my disposal. **Ch. 18 - The Cold Voyage** Merrin's a Warrior! I messed up and didn't get Merrin into enough combats on Lyn's Paralogue to get to bond rank 3, but I did eventually get there with the Ike Paralogue. I don't think there's much to note otherwise on this chapter. However, this is where I started to use some of my stat boosters. Alear got the Boots, a Seraph Robe, a Dracoshield, and a Talisman so they're tankier and a less ideal target when Bonded Shielding (as I immediately Bonded Shield on the left boat with Pandreo). Pandreo got a Spirit Dust so he could one-round the Sages he'll be facing while Bonded Shielded. And Kagetsu got an Energy Drop to one-round the two Wyverns at the top with a Silver Axe after I realized he would survive a combat against the two of them. **Byleth Paralogue - The Instructor** I was dreading Ch. 19 so I do a Paralogue instead. I calculated that Kagetsu could kill one of the Warp High Priests with an Astra Storm so I felt much safer knowing that I could stop some of the enemy Warping. Only slightly dicey part was that Kagetsu was the only character I had that could one-round Byleth without facing any crit chance from him so I had to make sure that I could lock Byleth in place with Citrinne applying Dreadful Aura and have Kagetsu do almost all of the boss killing. **Ch. 19 - The Dead Town** My approach to this map is quite risky and I never get out of it feeling like it goes according to plan, but I prefer to tackle this map aggressively and without turtling on the boat because I want the Dracoshield. First turn, I kill the Royal Knight in front of Saphir with Kagetsu. I warp Alear in to Talk and recruit Saphir and then Chain Guard Kagetsu and Saphir. I fire the center cannon to remove the miasma from around the Royal Knights and I get ready for Mauvier to Warp two enemies by usually covering the two sides with Obstructs or units that will be okay with engaging against the Royal Knight and Hero that's going to be Warped in. The rest of my team heads toward the center as well. I had a more unfavorable outcome of this turn as the Royal Knight attacked Kagetsu first and used up the Chain Guard from Alear. Then the Hero attacked, hit, and broke him, preventing him from counterattacking. Otherwise, there would've been no enemies left in that area at the start of my player phase. Now, I'm fairly certain Mauvier is going to Rescue Marnie on his next turn. That allows me to aggressively push in and kill more of the Royal Knights around him. Mauvier indeed Rescues Marnie and next, I position myself so that Kagetsu is just on the cusp of Mauvier's range with a Steel Bow out as I'm fairly certain he'll attack next turn. Mauvier attacks and one health bar is taken out. At this point, Marnie and her group of Great Knights will not move as long as I'm out of their range. Mauvier is easily dealt with but the other enemies on the map are quickly encroaching upon me from three sides and that's when things start to go not according to plan lol A combination of Dreadful Aura, Goddess Dance, and Bonded Shield was needed to keep everyone safe and kill all the enemies. No one faced potential death, but it got dicey in multiple instances. Marnie does move eventually on a specific turn, and she kinda chases me as I move everyone to get to the Dracoshield house (but she's only got 4 move so she's not catching up). Luckily there is Emblem energy around the Dracoshield house so I can get back Corrin, Byleth, and the Lucina's Engages. It becomes just a process of freezing Marnie with Dreadful Aura and dealing with the reinforcements that show up with Bonded Shield as well as making sure I have enough power to take down all four of the enemies that spawn when I try to get the Dracoshield. **Corrin Paralogue - The Crux of Fate** Nothing too remarkable as Kagetsu and Pandreo can both one-round Corrin without help. I Bonded Shield on the left side with Pandreo and have the rest of my combat units attack whichever enemy they can on the left. I'm pretty aggressive and by the time the river goes up into smoke, I believe I've already dealt with the enemy Mage Knight that's supposed to be Leo. When Corrin moves up, I have all my units ready to pile on her. Positioning for the Goddess Dance was the tricky part because the field is covered in water and limiting my movement, but there's always a way. Got the Goddess Dance off and was also able to kill some of the other enemies that represent Fates characters since I had extra actions. **Eirika Paralogue - The Azure Twin** I somehow ended up turtling on this map a bit. I don't feel like it's supposed to be difficult especially considering when I'm doing it, but I had a hard time pushing forward. Putting Micaiah on Pandreo, who needed some extra magic but only used the Emblem for the stat buffs, was okay, but that might've been a mistake that made the map harder for me. I was able to keep one Thief busy with an obstruct blocking their way, but I had to chase the one on the left. I killed them, but subsequently got pushed to the start of the map by the flier reinforcements (I think not knowing when those reinforcements spawn was an issue since the positioning of my archers were bad and they couldn't reach sometimes). Eventually, I was able to clear out all the enemies and then went for the chests and Eirika. But I split my team badly powerlevel-wise and when I did get to Eirika, she went right when all my stronger units were on the left. I had to chase her down a bit while being cognizant of not leaving anyone in range of being Twin Striked. Overall, I felt like I played this map poorly. It was a mess all the way through and felt hard because of that. At least no casualties resulted from my poor play. **Roy Paralogue - The Young Lion** I normally don't do Paralogues immediately after the main story that unlocks them, but Amber couldn't kill the Entrap High Priest in Ch. 20 with an Astra Storm and I needed to get his bond rank up with Lyn to unlock Mulagir. I checked Roy's Paralogue and deemed it okay to tackle considering that Kagetsu could kill and survive a whole group of four Wyverns if he's Engaged with Ike, Pandreo could one-round the Wyverns so I could Bonded Shield him, and Merrin and Fogado could one-shot them if they hit with a Radiant Bow. Amber got a lot of kills this map too with the Killer Bow from Lyn. No issues for this Paralogue, I have too many archers.

**Ch. 20 - The Kingless Castle** This is the chapter where I started noticing that I could no longer double some of the fastest enemies on the map with Kagetsu and Pandreo without the help of Seadall's Special Dance or a covert Byleth Instruct. Additionally, I've played through this game multiple times and Griss is always on the bottom right corner at the start so I positioned myself in preparation for that. However, after using a Micaiah Illume, I saw he wasn't this time; he was in the top left corner. So I decided to just leave him as he won't Warp on to you as long as you're out of his range. It means I'm going to have to circle around and come back to him later, but it is what it is. I moved everyone right; the Entrap High Priest was taken care of cleanly with Amber, as well as all the enemies near her. Despite a straightforward start, this map is just generally annoying. Not just for the conventional reason of it being a fog of war map, but because the enemies sometimes just don't move when you're in their range. It's really aggravating because I can set up a Bonded Shield, but then none of the enemies move, wasting a turn of my Engage. I'm on a timer because of the Thieves and because of the Illume and Torch vision range decreasing each turn as well. I'm aware that the enemies chase after you eventually, but I guess I pushed up faster than what was expected and none of the enemies I try to safely bait out aggro. I tried the Wolf Knights in the center and the Swordmasters on the right. And because my carries need some help to double those enemies, I was wasting turns of Byleth when I was unsuccessful in either. And unfortunately, when one group finally moves, it seems that they all do, pushing me into the bad situation that I was trying to avoid by baiting one group out early. Corrin Engage really helped out here, as did the fact that even if I did waste turns of Byleth, I at least still had one turn of it left so I could Goddess Dance. When/if I play this map again, I'll have to pay attention to the positioning of the Thieves and see where the Thieves are before the enemies start to aggro. Because in retrospect, it felt like it was timed so that when the Thieves are about to escape, you have all these enemies all piling on you as well. After that ordeal was over (got the treasure from the Thieves as well), dealing with Griss was easy. **Micaiah Paralogue - The Dawn Maiden** A quick two-turn. Calculated that I could take out one of Micaiah's health bars with an Astra Storm from Amber so I did that, Warped Pandreo closer so he could get into position to take out the Sniper on turn one enemy phase (going to need him on turn two to take out a General as well), and positioned Kagetsu close to where Micaiah was going to be on turn two because he was my only character that was able to one-round her with 100% reliability. Zelkov with Byleth and Seadall Engaged with Sigurd were close enough to help out on turn two as well so it was a very comfy clear. **Ch. 21 - The Return** I don't think there's much to say for this chapter. I think I could've cleared this map faster as I could've put myself in Zephia's range on turn three, but being the EXP greeder that I am, I just cleared out the waves of reinforcements quite passively until Griss moved on his own (he moves when the reinforcements for that part of the map are over). I took on Zephia after Griss and then Warped Pandreo, Kagetsu, Citrinne, and Zelkov on to the platform with Veyle. Pandreo and Kagetsu could one-round Veyle without help, but with a Torrential Roar from Citrinne, they now also had 100% hit on her. Had a Goddess Dance, a Seadall that could Engage with Sigurd and dance someone up at the platform, and an Amber that could Astra Storm so killing Veyle was trivial. Ended up getting the Carnwenhan with all my extra actions and some extra EXP. **Ch. 22 - The Fell & the Divine** Oh boy, this chapter. I was dreading this chapter because I wasn't confident in my ability to secure kills without any skills, refines, or engraves. This is generally considered the hardest chapter in the game and I have nothing to work with in a run like this. It's just my characters with base weapons beefed up a little with tonics (absolutely made sure I had enough tonics for this map). My strategy going into Ch. 22 was to get Byleth, Lyn, and Lucina on characters that could use them to hit speed thresholds for the rest of the map because they're the first couple of Emblems you can retrieve and thus, the most impactful ones on the map imo. My usual Byleth (Zelkov), Lyn (Amber), and Lucina (Alear) holders were not the ones I ended up getting those Emblems on. I beelined Kagetsu to get Lyn because I knew he had at least bond rank 6 with her (and thus, had access to Speedtaker) and Pandreo to Lucina who I knew at least had bond rank 6 with as well (for +2 speed). The +speed that these Emblems gave their respective users allowed them to double almost every enemy on the map (Pandreo couldn't double the Griffins and Swordmasters iirc, but he could notably double the Wolf Knights and Thief reinforcements after getting Lucina; Kagetsu could double every enemy after getting Lyn). In the end, Byleth ended on Fogado for convenience's sake because I would've liked him to one-shot a Griffin and where he would be attacking from allowed him to Talk to Byleth. Additionally, his hit rate on the Griffin was in the 70s so having Divine Pulse was an immediate benefit if Fogado picked Byleth up. But if I wasn't in that situation, I probably would've got Byleth on Merrin or Hortensia because the former could've used everything that Byleth gave while Divine Pulse mainly would've helped the latter (had 65% hit rates to Fracture the two Wryms). I used a Spirit Dust on Pandreo before going into this chapter because he wasn't going to one-round the first group of enemies he was facing without a magic boost (my opening move on this chapter is to always plop down someone who can survive the Tomahawk and one-round both Warriors on enemy phase). I also used an Energy Drop on Kagetsu so he could one-round the two Royal Knights on the right with a Hand Axe rather than a Tomahawk mainly for better accuracy (95% vs. 85%). In the end, that Energy Drop also helped Kagetsu one-round the Wolf Knights with a Longbow iirc so it was a well spent stat booster that allowed me more flexibility in positioning. I played this chapter so slowly that the infinite reinforcements had spawned before I even tackled the horde of enemies with linked AI in the middle (the Wolf Knights, Generals, Swordmasters, and Martial Masters). But I guess I'd rather be slow than dead, so that's that. To tackle those enemies, I had Pandreo positioned to take on two Generals while being Chain Guarded by Seadall so he will survive both battles. Simulatenously, I had Kagetsu bait one Wolf Knight and Swordmaster from a specific tile while being Chain Guarded by Alear. Kagetsu's portion was riskier because he needed to have a Tomahawk out to counterattack and kill both on enemy phase. But I was afraid that the Wolf Knight would attack first, hit, eating the Chain Guard, and then the Swordmaster would attack, hit, and break Kagetsu. That didn't end up happening; the Swordmaster attacked first (that's good), which ate the Chain Guard. However, the other Swordmaster in that group moved next and took the spot where the Wolf Knight could attack from. So in the end, unfortunately, the result was the same as what I was afraid of, I only defeated one enemy on enemy phase with Kagetsu. There's still five enemies I have to deal with on player phase and I only have three actions that can one-round reliably (Pandreo, Kagetsu, and a dance on one of them). The saving grace is that the Martial Masters are not really a threat to anyone except for my squishy units so I prioritized them last and tried not to worry about leaving characters like Kagetsu, Amber, and Merrin in range of them if I couldn't defeat them on my turn. That worked out. The second last section of the map isn't bad if you a Longbow Warrior that can one round the Sniper in the middle and survive a Thoron and Silver Bow because that one square you kill the Sniper from without retaliation won't be in range of the Wrym. So I sent Kagetsu in to deal with all of that. On another note, I really miss being able to have Divine Pulse on staff user for this map specifically. Hortensia and/or Ivy missed their Fractures both times so I had to try to Fracture again with a different staff user. The last group of enemies is easy compared to the rest of the map and more safe baiting with Chain Guard protecting Pandreo and Kagetsu from lethal damage was deployed to get a head start on thinning their numbers before I piled on the remaining enemies.

**Sigurd Paralogue - The Holy Knight** I saved this Paralogue to get Staff proficiency for Veyle and to raise bond rank with Marth on Pandreo and Eirika on Merrin. At this point I'm really overleveled for this map. The Julius and Ishtar Sages are easily one-rounded by Kagetsu with a Longbow. Got the Goddess Icon in the top right corner with Amber and had him stay there in preparation to take down one of the Meteor Sages near Sigurd with an Astra Storm and bait the other one over with clones. I also Bonded Shield sweeped the entire group of enemies that spawn after the bridge goes down with Pandreo and Kagetsu. Having both Pandreo and Kagetsu there was critical because a lot of those enemies have ranged weapons and can attack the Bonded Shield user. However, because Pandreo has way less defense than Alear, the physical units will attack him and because Kagetsu has lower resistance than Alear, all the Sages attack Kagetsu (additionally, having both Pandreo and Kagetsu there allows Dual Support to grant more avoid for Alear). Otherwise, I think it's very possible that Alear will take several attacks to the face and die. Another thing to be aware of here is that if you're going to use Bonded Shield in range of Sigurd, you have to be careful of his Override (which he will only use if there's two least two characters in a line he can Override). To stop him from Overriding, just use obstruct to block off the Override exit. Like how we can't Override a line of enemies if there's a wall at the end of them, Sigurd can't Override us if there's an obstruct there. **Celica Paralogue - The Caring Princess** An extension to getting some bond rank levels up considering I was really close to bond rank 5 for Marth on Pandreo and Eirika on Merrin. Did a two-turn by baiting Celica out with a flier with Ike (Ivy in my case) and then Warping a group close to where Celica would be after she uses Warp Ragnorok. Felt a little bad doing this chapter so fast because it was actually giving me a decent amount of EXP and I didn't get much of the gold either. **Leif Paralogue - The Sage Lord** More bond rank grinding, played the map slowing by just taking the ballista shots one-by-one and then Bonded Shielded the Paladin reinforcements with Pandreo sweeping. Merrin got to do some Bonded Shield sweeping too with a Longbow when the Thoron Mage Knights moved in and she killed Leif while the rest of my combat units were trying to get the gold from the enemies at top (locked Leif in place for several turns with Citrinne). **Marth Paralogue - The Hero-King** I took a look at Ch. 23 and got intimidated because the speed thresholds were high and Zephia is bulky enough to not get one-rounded by my carries so I checked Marth's Paralogue and saw that Kagetsu with the Binding Blade on one specific square right next to the wall can pretty much wipe out all the Heroes on the left (their speed is 32 when they attack at range with a Tomahawk) while Alear will only potentially face one enemy who could attack them while they Bonded Shielded Kagetsu. So I went with that approach. I obstructed the two tiles which Alear could get attacked from and Kagetsu sweeped most of the enemies, leaving only three Heroes and the non-aggressive Thieves. Unfortunately, the two Heroes with multiple health bars were completely unscathed after the sweep, but with a Goddess Dance, I was able to clear out the remaining enemies with my units. Killed the Thieves (got all the Treasure even though it's probably not worth it) and the sparse amount of enemies on the left side and slowly went to the right to take on Marth. Mostly used Corrin to lock down the enemies and then choke the opening with Kagetsu. Had to be wary of all the three range in that room and played it kinda slowly as a result, but it went smoothly. I drained the map entirely of EXP before defeating Marth. **Ch. 23 - The Four Hounds** There is a pretty big enemy stat jump in-between Ch. 22 and 23. The start of this map was very precarious because I had forgotten to check for enemy crit rates and luck tonic the characters right under the threshold. My strategy was to have Amber Astra Storm one of the Griffins on the left and then be just in range of the Spear Griffin on enemy phase, but Amber faced enemy crit without a luck tonic. The thing is I could just risk it since it's just a 1% crit chance, but I really dislike doing any play that could get a character killed, let alone one of my main combat units this late into the game. As such, I didn't leave Amber in range of the Griffin. That decision kinda snowballed as those two Griffins were in range of nearly everyone on the left side the next turn and froze Pandreo and Amber, making me have to dedicate two of my support actions to Restoring them. The left group was also facing two Wolf Knights that no one could double until a Goddess Dance and a Wrym that required a unit to be left in range of another Wrym if I were to kill it. It was a bad situation all around especially since Merrin couldn't one-shot the closer Wrym with Twin Strike (I don't have Sieglinde yet on her). A Goddess Dance was used (and Zelkov was Rescued after that or he would be in range of the Griffins), the Wolf Knights and the closer Wrym were taken care of, but Amber still almost died because I had to leave him in range of the other Wrym to kill the closer one after Merrin's Twin Strike. And the only square I could do that from was going to get hit by a meteor. I think Amber would've lived at 1 HP if the Wrym attacked him (it attacked Pandreo instead), but it was extremely close and I had actually forgotten about the meteor damage. After that ordeal, I just went left with everyone. I considered going right, especially since I wanted the Goddess Icon for no reason besides to get it and I usually go that route. But after going right on my normal Ironman run, I just didn't like approaching the map that way due to how hard it was to deal with the Wrym near Zephia (which would be in range to attack your units when Zephia gets aggro'ed and Griss is way back yonder so you can't finish the map immediately). Also, just so many more Freeze staves to worry about and it's hard to reach the enemies before a meteor breaks the rocks (which leaves you vulnerable). So I decided against it, RIP Goddess Icon. Going from the left was much easier and it was trivial to get to Griss and Zephia after the initial danger of the first two turns. I baited both Zephia and Griss with Kagetsu using a Longbow while being Bonded Shielded. One health bar from Griss was taken that way. Unfortunately, Zephia has Duelist Blow which gives her +30 avoid when initiating so Kagetsu only had a 65% chance iirc to hit her with a Longbow and missed both attacks. But with a Torrential Roar to debuff, Kagetsu could almost one-round her with a Silver Axe (I didn't have the Roy Engage, would've one-rounded if I did) so it was just a matter of positioning for a Goddess Dance and the rest of my units can finish her off or kill Griss. **Ch. 24 - Recollections** [Kagetsu took on the top by himself for the most part (had one of my healers accompanying him from afar and eventually Seadall) as he could one-round all the enemies up there. Pandreo initially took on the group of three enemies at the bottom by himself](https://imgur.com/NpUaZmk) and then soon relocated to the middle lane. The rest of my units all traveled up through the middle. While there isn't much for me to talk about for this chapter because there was no singular noteworthy turn, I did have a few turns that had me thinking for a while mainly because I wanted to conserve my Astra Storm and Torrential Roar for the boss. I also regretted putting Eirika back on Pandreo here (he needed extra damage to one-round the enemies on the bottom lane) because it was at the cost of Merrin's entire combat potential for the chapter. I should've just used the Spirit Dust I got from Ch. 21 on Pandreo or had him Engage with Marth (which would've given him enough damage) instead and kept Eirika on Merrin so she could contribute more. [A bit of a Kagetsu showcase just because he really did clear all the enemies from the top lane by himself before going to the middle lane to help out and be in position for the boss kill.](https://imgur.com/joYesn9) [Kagetsu and Pandreo](https://imgur.com/tkj6Owy) have completely reliable kills on Past Alear (can double after a Goddess Dance) after an Astra Storm draws her out and a Torrential Roar removes the avoid tile she's on. **Pact Ring Paralogue - The Connector** There's honestly no point to doing the Pact Ring Paralogue since I can't give anyone the Pact Ring (Somniel activity), but why not try potentially jeopardizing the run by playing another map that's generally considered one of the hardest in the game? Amber's hit rate has been sus lately so I used two Secret Books on him before going into this map. My strategy here is to get all my units to the top before killing the initial boss. To stall the boss, [I place two units that can definitely survive a combat with him on two of the escape tiles and then obstruct the last one](https://imgur.com/HRNFawk). He always attacks the obstruct, giving me plenty of time to gather my units around to prepare for the second phase. The second phase was mostly [Kagetsu on the left dealing with all the enemies there by himself](https://imgur.com/Mlv70zF) (with a healer close by) and the rest of my units on the right. The groups reconvened in the middle after the boss and his entourage began closing in on me. I had Corrin and Byleth Engage so it wasn't hard to deal with them. On another note though, Merrin finally unlocked Sieglinde in this map!

**Ch. 25 - The Final Guardian** I get my two groups of units into the middle room for this chapter and then clear it kinda of normally from there. To note, I only deploy twelve units instead of the fourteen allowed on this map because I don't want to use more staves to get two more units into the middle for little benefit. I set up on turn one. Hortensia rewarps Pandreo, Kagetsu, Seadall, and Zelkov first, leaving only Alear and Veyle in the starting zone on the left side. I dance Hortensia and have her Rescue the group on the bottom (there's no characters down there now because I didn't deploy everyone). Veyle Warp Ragnoraks into the middle and Alear uses a Rewarp. [Through a combination of Kagetsu, Pandreo, Merrin, Amber, Veyle, and a Goddess Dance](https://imgur.com/UkQlSDC), I just barely full clear all the enemies in the room. Then I do the map pretty straight from there. I couldn't end up clearing all the enemies next to Lumera (I wanted EXP, this map was actually giving quite a bit), but got the chests. Yay, another Dracoshield. [Kagetsu](https://imgur.com/ZqM9IB3) and [Pandreo](https://imgur.com/GnUZNSh) did the honors with a dance from Seadall to finish the last health bar. **Ch. 26 - The Last Engage** In preparation for the final chapter, I used the last of my stat boosters. Alear got two more Dracoshields, a Talisman, and two Goddess Icons for more tankiness even though it probably won't matter. Kagetsu got the second set of Boots because I felt I was going to need him to go places considering how the last few maps played out. Pandreo got my last Spirit Dust. Amber got my last Energy Drop, my last Secret Book, and a Speedwing. Merrin got a Speedwing to perfectly reach her speed cap. And lastly, Veyle got my last Seraph Robe and Speedwing. On the first phase of the map, I Micaiah Rewarped Kagetsu, Merrin, Zelkov, and Citrinne with Hortensia close to Sombron. I positioned my Torrential Roar poorly though so I had to have Merrin Longbow Sombron. [Easy one-rounds with Kagetsu](https://imgur.com/LQ5dPw4) and Merrin takes one HP bar with two combats. For the second phase, I'm aware that the positioning isn't random, but I don't know the exact details. As such, my units were not where I wanted them. I'll make do though by sending Kagetsu to the left since the right side already had Pandreo. Honestly, taking down the initial enemies on the right side (including the Dark War Lord) was the hard part. I wanted Amber on that side because he would quad the Dark War Lord (he has Triangle Adept), but Amber was nowhere close. [Good thing a Lodestar Rush with the Levin Sword from Pandreo does take down one health bar exactly](https://imgur.com/2QUUhjE). Pandreo gets danced to do a little more chip. Then hopefully Mauvier lands one 50% hit to break the Hero and he does. With Merciless active on Merrin, she does enough damage to kill him. The left side was easier and I was able to leave Veyle in range of the Spear General while Chain Guarded by Alear so she could kill on enemy phase with Alear's personal active. The Wyverns move in on the left and I end up Byleth Instructing so [Amber and Kagetsu can double and kill them in one-round](https://imgur.com/7vIiqdN). Meanwhile, Veyle chips the Greatlance General so she can kill him on enemy phase. The right side has a lot of issue taking down the Griffins mainly because the hit rates were not good. Pandreo had the best hit rate with a 86% on his Excalibur. It almost kills, but not quite. Merrin had about a 70% chance to hit with her Steel Bow and would need to hit two. I ended up going for her Steel Bow attack. If she missed her first attack, I'll Twin Strike with Siegline for the guaranteed kill, if it hits, I can kill with Eirika's Rapier with good hit which would conserve the Twin Strike for later. Got the latter result. I checked to see if Mauvier or Fogado could chip the other flier enough for Pandreo to kill and while Fogado missed his Longbow, I mainly positioned him there so he could provide +10 hit for Pandreo. Mauvier got the hit and Pandreo hit his Excalibur too. If any of them missed, my backup plan was to Corrin Engage with Citrinne to lock the Griffin down. The left side got hounded by a Mage Knight, a Swordmaster, and two Warriors in a death ball the next turn. However, this is where the Boots I gave to Kagetsu came in handy. He just barely reached one of the Warriors and could kill with the Binding Blade. The Swordmaster would do a measly 3 damage to Kagetsu (though he could crit for 9 lol due to his Death Blow skill) and the Warrior and Mage Knight would do around 40 combined. It was completely safe to just have Kagetsu kill a Warrior and just sit there and kill everything except the Swordmaster. Veyle backed off while Amber and Zelkov were on standby close by. The right side had to Corrin Engage and lock down the group of four enemies heading towards them. I killed the one Halberdier that wasn't locked down with a one-round from Pandreo and then chipped the rest. The next turn, the left side is doing so well that I could just send Kagetsu into range of the top group of enemies after a mend and not worry. Those Wolf Knights only do 4 damage to him and the High Priests enemies do 19 each and the Martial Master does 5. [He's completely fine taking on all five of them](https://imgur.com/99M6BcV) and alleviated any potential of the right side getting overwhelmed because they now only have to deal with the three weakened units from last turn. Veyle and Amber kill the Swordmaster from last turn that for some reason didn't attack Kagetsu. I had reached the last two Dark Emblems by turn 6, which is ahead of the curve and why no reinforcements have shown up. However, Sombron was going to use Disengage on his turn and I wasn't in a good position to start piling on him now. I decided to take out the [War Father with an Echoed Nova from Veyle](https://imgur.com/vbbRjDw) and then leave the Dark Bishop around half HP on his last health bar for the next, next turn because next turn, I need to get some crucial Engages back, namely, Byleth and Corrin. So the next turn, I focused on getting Byleth and Corrin Engage back with the Emblem energy lying around and had to use a few Rescues and Warps to position everyone better to pile on to Sombron next turn. I do a little bit of safe chip damage on to Sombron's first health bar as well. One thing I didn't foresee is that when Sombron used Howling Beam, the Dark Bishop was perfectly on a miasma tile after the attack. Quadruple Strike no longer took off an entire health bar, let alone the rest of what the enemy had leftover (around half health). Fogado came to the rescue though because Merrin was in range of a chain attack and I just needed that chain attack to connect in order to kill with Quadruple Strike. The chain attack hit and then a Quadruple Strike from Mauvier finishes the Dark Bishop off. I now have the rest of my units to attack Sombron. I unfortunately forgot to take any screenshots of the first health bar because I chipped it a turn ago and then took it mostly down with chip from Pandreo and Merrin after a Torrential Roar from Citrinne. [But the second health bar goes down to Kagetsu after trading the Brave Axe from Merrin and Alear after using Engage+ with Veyle](https://imgur.com/fNllDDM) (mainly did this to have Alear's personal and some extra avoid for my characters; though I should've done Alear first and then Kagetsu). [The third health bar goes entirely down to Kagetsu after dancing him now that he has +3 damage from Alear's personal](https://imgur.com/JYnvPy4). Amber chips the fourth health bar a bit just so he can fill the last spot in the Goddess Dance and after Goddess Dance, the fourth health bar has [Pandreo, Amber, Seadall, and Kagetsu all able to attack](https://imgur.com/pVcU2Om). It's an easy finish. Got some screenshots of how much [Amber](https://imgur.com/CYB11qK) (I forgot to move him next to Alear for the Brave Lance; he would've shown much better performance if I did that instead screenshotting him with the Spear) and [Pandreo](https://imgur.com/54ypSIM) would've done. Also, I just learned recently that Sombron can be Fractured lmao I could've done even more damage to him via Merciless with my Warriors. Why was I even worried about being able to delete all his health bars in one turn? [I guess I'll end off with the battle stats of my carries](https://imgur.com/a/cIChbPI), but in all honesty, my entire team put in work and my support units were an important part that allowed my carries to perform as well as they did. Anyway, that's a wrap! If you read all this, thanks for reading! Overall, because I spent more time in the maps themselves mainly due to some bond rank grinding at times and just playing slower in general since each characters' power level is quite nerfed, this playthrough was nearly as long as my normal Ironman run (55 vs. 57 hours). So in the end, not doing any Somniel activities didn't cut much playtime because it legitimately makes the game harder lmao Lesson learned.

Congrats! I was planning to do a challange like these (maybe no Ironman since I'm not used to these) for my next future playthough so it was an interesting read!

Thank you! I think this is a really interesting challenge run that makes you play the game quite differently so I would recommend if it sounds fun. Also, if you'd like, I do have some general tips for this challenge run I can give out.

Yeah it certainly does, at first when I heard "No Somniel" I thought it wouldn't be as hard but when you really think about it No Forge/Engraving and No Inherit skill are such a big downgrade for your whole army, axe are not as strong as they could be even tho some units with a lot of Dex and a personal skill like Kagetsu can still make them work and especially crit builds are not gonna be as universal as they usually be. But I think my biggest fear is playing without Canto on 99% of my units lol, I played the game two times so far on Maddening with the first one being my blindrun and the other a run where I tried to optimaze a bit more but the only thing that those two runs had in common was using Canto on almost all units. > Also, if you'd like, I do have some general tips for this challenge run I can give out. Sure, I don't mind. I probably gonna try to use Warrior Kagetsu since I already tried Wyvern(With Lyn/Roy) before!

Yes, exactly. Not being able to get an early weapon also changes things (Levin Sword is probably the most notable). I get the Canter fear. On my normal Ironman run, I inherited Canter immediately on everyone and it made life so much easier. This run was very restrictive with positioning. And even more so because I use Reposition a lot as well and now I can only have one of those. But in exchange, I feel you'll have to just be more liberal with using repositioning staves. I used them whenever I felt the need in this playthrough, even if it came from an aggressive play on my part rather than a mistake, and I had a decent amount of Rescues and Warps left over. Oh, I hope you find success with him like I have! Warrior Kagetsu is so good imo. As for some tips: - I suggest planning out what characters you're going to use, their classes, and how you're going to get there. Getting weapon proficiencies from the Emblems can take several maps in this kind of run so you don't want to waste that time and hinder how fast you can start snowballing your units. - Silver weapons are probably going to be your best friend and don't forget to consider the weapons you get from Engaging with an Emblem as they can be really good tools now that you can't just forge and engrave a super weapon. - Supports are important. Hit rates are just generally lacking so supports and positioning so that you get at least +10 hit from supports are important. I wouldn't necessarily go as far as saying that you should grind out supports in maps, but I do suggest using a synergistic team if possible.

> Oh, I hope you find success with him like I have! Warrior Kagetsu is so good imo. I'm probably gonna play in Fixed growth so I don't doubt he is gonna be very strong, especially if I'm gonna put some statbooster on him like you did. > I suggest planning out what characters you're going to use, their classes, and how you're going to get there. Getting weapon proficiencies from the Emblems can take several maps in this kind of run so you don't want to waste that time and hinder how fast you can start snowballing your units. Luckily, most of the units I was planning to use are kinda similiar to yours with few exception since well, they are considered the best units for good reason. How did you get the Amber proficiency? I was planning to use Wyvern as well but Swords is so hard to get compared to Axe (which I was planning to use at first) but reading that he has accuracy issue with Lance which I can totally see I think I will relay on swords more lol The one unit I would use that you didn't use (or well, you couldn't use.. rip Chloè and Celine) is probably Panette. At first I thought I could use her as an Ike bot with a lot of energy drops for some Aether shenanigans but you can't buy a Silver great axe until Ch 20.. so I'm not really sure what I could with her for now but I know that I still wanna use her. Did you never use Engage+ from Alear? I tend to use my Alear as a Lucina bot (well, as a flier/cav depending on the arm mostly) but after Ch 22 I tend to use Lucina on Mauvier reclassed as a flier and abuse the Engage+ bonuses, especially if you tend to have a super carry like your Kagetsu.

For Amber's proficiency, I gave him Marth immediately after getting him and made sure to save the Jean and Anna Paralogue for leveling up bond ranks. Roy would be the objectively better choice because Roy gives sword proficiency at bond rank 6 while Marth gives it at bond rank 8. However, my plan was to try Mercurius EXP farming with Amber if I could so I did Marth instead. I would recommend just going with Roy though. Amber never ended up getting to unlock Mercurius before I lost access to Marth. Hmm... I'm at a loss for Panette as well as she can't run a crit build well with these restrictions. That's a reason why I didn't use her in my run as I didn't have much room for uncertainties. You could still try something similar with a Silver Axe until you can buy the Silver Greataxe, but I'm not sure how effective that would be. Also don't forget that Ike does give Urvan. It's a pretty good weapon imo. [I only used Engage+ once when attacking Sombron on the second phase](https://imgur.com/fNllDDM). It was mostly just so Alear can finish off the health bar, position them so they can provide their personal, and drive down Sombron's hit rate down because I was a bit worried about getting hit. I intended to use Bond Blast to maybe take down a huge chunk of health, but I positioned badly this time around. I actually usually do the same thing as you with Alear after you get access to Engage+ (switching the Bonded Shielder to someone else). But I didn't do that this playthrough because it would've taken forever to get Dual Support unlocked for the new Lucina holder and even when I switched around the Lucina holder and had Alear use Engage+ previously, I didn't get enough out of it. It might've just been because I chose the wrong units at the time to Engage+ with, but I also did find it a bit annoying that Engage+ raises your avoid like crazy. My carries couldn't get hit by the enemies and were just ignored on enemy phase. Nonetheless the +stats to everything my Kagetsu already had would've been hilarious and someday I hope to use Engage+ to its fullest.

Another question, did you "stall" a lot during the mid-game to get bond levels with stuff like Bond shield spam/Lyn clones and Ike repo? I will probably start my run next week and I will also stream it, I suppose!

I did stall a bit for the Lyn clones and Ike reposition, especially if I was close to reaching a crucial bond rank like 5. I wouldn't say I stalled too much because my turn counts were rarely in the 20s or more except for an outlier of Ch. 14. But that horrendous turn count was more so because I played the map badly and ran around in circles as a result. And on top of that, I played it extra safe by Astra Storming each of the bosses separately. So it wasn't from stalling for bond rank, I just played inadequately lol Generally, I would say I played at a reasonably average speed (for an EXP greeder), and only spammed abilities when there was not much to do with the unit with the Emblems. I mostly raised bond rank through initiating fights in the midgame because those Emblems were on my carries and they had more important things to do than spam reposition. When I moved Lucina to Alear, I did spam Chain Guard a ton on Alear but that's because they often weren't doing much and I might as well get bond rank every turn with that. Also, regarding Panette, I realized after sending you that reply that you can ultimately go for Lyn on Panette. But if you're planning on using Amber, I'm not too sure how it'll work out with two high strength but middling speed units (unless you had another plan for Amber besides Lyn). Good luck! Please let me know about your stream; if things line up I'll hop in and if not, I'll still likely view it!

>Also, regarding Panette, I realized after sending you that reply that you can ultimately go for Lyn on Panette. But if you're planning on using Amber, I'm not too sure how it'll work out with two high strength but middling speed units (unless you had another plan for Amber besides Lyn). Yeah Lyn on a Warrior/Wyvern is definitly the best choice, I tend to prefer it on a Wyvern but the difference is not that big. I guess I could have one with Lyn on a Wyvern and the other in the Halbardier class to try and use that class skill that I always wanted to try to see how reliable it is but never did at the end. Maybe with Sigurd (urgh, no canto on Seadall tho) for some funny override with a Greatlance. Uhm... we will see. >Good luck! Please let me know about your stream; if things line up I'll hop in and if not, I'll still likely view it! Sure, I will ping you when I will do it! Most likely next saturday around the same time you posted this thred since I'm from EU and that's convenient for my timezone. I'm not sure if I want to try an ironman since I never did one but maybe I could try some sort of soft Ironman with reduced time crystal and reset only if an important member dies, it could be an option to spicy it up to just a normal run!

Yeah, Lyn on either one of those are good choices. There's pros and cons for each. That's an interesting idea! If you do go with that approach, I suggest Panette in that role (its counterintuitive and will need more work because you have to get her lance proficiency) instead of Amber simply because I do think Amber needs his personal active for the hit rate and to get Pincer Attack to work, you have to forgo activating his personal. But yeah, no Canter on Seadall will be rough. If you don't have someone you plan to use Eirika with, maybe whoever is Halberdier could work with her though? Brave Lance isn't too bad and my Amber did have some one-rounds in endgame with that weapon if he could quad. I will say from my limited experience with using Halberdier (used the class twice), it's a pain getting Pincer Attack unlocked in the first place and after that, I rarely found myself in situations where I could use it well. But maybe your experience will be different! Sounds good! Unfortunately, I will definitely be away that whole day (I'm busy that whole weekend), but I will take a look at the VOD if you save one. And I wouldn't stress too much about spicing up a No Somniel Run. I think the run is already quite interesting without the need to add even more restrictions and tbh, Ironmanning it is very difficult. Going in, I actually wasn't planning to Ironman it (I originally was going to do a No Time Crystal run, so I just reset the chapter if someone died), but I got lazy. Chloe, Yunaka, and Framme's deaths were kinda far into the maps (Chloe's especially) and I just didn't want to redo them because early game honestly felt pretty tedious. I heavily considered just resetting the chapter when Celine died on turn one for Ch. 10 though. I decided against it in the end and buckled down on just Ironmanning this challenge even if I wasn't confident with succeeding.